T-Shirt Upcycle: Adding Lace to a Shirt

Supplies and Preparation

To do this fun upcycle of adding lace to a shirt you don’t need any pattern pieces, just a long ruler. Ashley first explains how to determine how large of a triangle of lace will be inserted into the shirt. This will depend on both the amount of lace you have, how wide of an insert you want to have at the bottom of the shirt and how high up you want the insert to go. Ashley explains how she determined the size of insert she is using. When adding lace to a shirt you first have to cut away a section of the t-shirt. Ashley shows how to lay out the shirt so that both sides can be cut at the same time. She then shows how to use the piece cut from the t-shirt as a pattern piece to cut out the lace.

Construction

Once the shirt and the lace have been cut they can be sewn together. Ashley demonstrates adding lace to a shirt by first stitching using a simple straight stitch. She explains that depending on the lace being used it can act as a stabilizer when sewing and no other changes need to be made to the machine, needle or presser foot. However, she also gives tips for stitching with knit t-shirt fabric that can make it easier. Ashley then explains how to finish the seam using a narrow zig-zag stitch and then how to finish it off with top stitching. Once you see how fun and easy lace can be to work with- try out some other great lace projects including how to make lace towel embellishments and other lace applique techniques.